A Christmas Meme!

1. Hot Chocolate or Egg Nog?

I'm not that much of a fan of any hot drinks; mulled wine is pretty much the only one I drink... I haven't tasted egg nog ever, so I'll choose hot chocolate. The best hot chocolate I've ever had was actually back in UK, in a beautiful city called Colchester, and it was sometime in November.

2. Does Santa wrap presents or just sit them under the tree?

When I was a kid Santa visited our house and gave wrapped presents to me, mum, dad, my uncle, my aunts and my cousins directly. These days when kids have grown up, Santa is too busy ( ;-) ) to stop by personally, so he leaves wrapped presents to one specific room at the house. Too bad my cousins are, at 21 and 26, aware of it and usually are the first ones to rush to get the presents, heh heh.

3. Colored lights on tree/house or white?

We have one set of white lights outside this year and one set of white lights on our Christmas tree. I do have this colored lights reindeer decoration hanging in front of one window, it was a gift from a friend one mine. And I have a flying star decoration in my room, which has blue and orange lights.

4. Do you hang mistletoe?

No, that's not a tradition at my house. I did buy this golden mistletoe decoration a few years back, but it stays in my room.

5. When do you put your decorations up?

I put decorations to my room here in Jyväskylä sometime in November this year. Me and mum begun to decorate our house in Helsinki last weekend. Now we have everything but the Christmas tree (we'll get that early next week like we always do; trees actually went to sale only yesterday here in Finland and yes, we'll have a real tree!) ready.

6. What is your favorite holiday dish?

That must be turkey with, believe or not, macaroni and cheese! ;-) I've been making some sort of macaroni dish for a cousin of mine since I can recall and fwe years ago I decided to alter the tradition and made macaroni & cheese for the first time. Now everybody loves it so much that they begin to ask me in June that will I make it or not! Talking about popular demand, heh! I do like making all sort of Christmas dishes; cookies, cakes and stuff, but I off sugar myself.

7. Favorite Holiday memory?

I have a lot to choose from. One of my faves was to travel to Viitasaari with my dad and pick our two Christmas trees from our our land. I was about five and there was A LOT of snow everywhere! It was fun.

Then there's fighting snow wars with my friend and her brother and his best friend... Making snow castle, a snow horse, a snowman... making snow angels to the ground and when my friend's uncle came to visit just then, he called me and my friend "snowladies". Heh, that night was 20 years ago, but I'm still refered as "snowlady" when he sees me!

I recall one Christmas Eve years ago; I went to have a walk with my friend and her dog. It became snowing. The whole suburbia around us was peaceful, quiet and white. It was so lovely! I was 7 or 8 at the time and it's one of my dearest memories.

The Christmas Eve in 1996 will always stay on my mind as one of the golden ones. The mood during the dinner was relaxed, peaceful and beautiful. We all were sitting around the big table (usually there's so many of us that there's another table for us youngones), talking, eating, having a wonderful time. That was one of the best evenings, although my dad was very seriously ill (brain tumor) and it was his last Christmas.

8. When and how did you learn the truth about Santa?

I don't recall the specific moment, but I was 8 at the time.

9. Do you open a gift on Christmas Eve?

Back in our house ALL the gifts are opened on Christmas Eve; that's the tradition here in Finland.

10. How do you decorate your Christmas Tree?

First the silver star goes on the top. Then mum puts the white lights. Then it's these long, pretty decoration strings (?) and then everything else - we have a lot of decorations. Some of them we have inherited from grandma Martta (dad's mum), some I made at school, some my aunt sent from Germany when she lived there for a year. The tree is decorated on 22nd or 23rd at our house; it depends little bit. But I'm always the one who does most of it and I enjoy it a lot. My fave decorations are golden snowflakes, which I bought myself about 6 years ago.

11. Snow! Love it or Dread it?

Let's put it this way: May your days be merry and bright and may all your Christmases be white! I love snow and Christmas Eve doesn't really feel like Christmas Eve without it.

12. Can you ice skate?

Yes, but I haven't in years.

13. Do you remember your favorite gift?

When I was very little, it was this pink My Little Pony castle - both me my cousin got the castles the same year. When I was older my friend Laura has given me a lot of great gifts, including a custom-made bed spread.

14. What's the most important thing?

Spending time with my closeones. The true meaning of Christmas... my fave moment is to read the Gospel according to Lucas before the quests arrive. We used to have a tradition that the oldest quest would read it out loud, but since one of our quests is Jewish, we decided to alter that tradition.

15. What is your favorite Holiday Dessert?

I have never been a fan of the Christmas' traditonal dessert, which is plum something. I managed to alter that to plum quark, which is easy to make and our quests love it. I'm not into anything with sugar, so I skip that part.

16. What is your favorite holiday tradition?

Reading Gospel according to Lucas. Having quests at our house on the Christmas Eve. Decorating. Baking... ok, I'm a Christmas nut! ;-)

17. What tops your tree?

A silver star, like pretty much every tree back here in Finland.

18. Which do you prefer giving or Receiving?

Receiving is great, but giving is much, much better. I love to watch how people's eyes light up when they realise that they got something wonderful.

19. What is your favorite Christmas Song?

I love many songs; it's a close call between Christmas Time, White Christmas, Silent Night and O Holy Night.

20. Candy canes, Yuck or Yum?

I must admit: I have never had a candy cane, so I'm not sure.